The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1887-06-18
How to Raise and Keep Celery.


E. p Roe, in Hnper's Magazine.
Perhaps no vegetable is more generally
appreciated than celery. Like asparagus,
it was once, and is still by some, regarded
as luxury requiring TOO much skill and
labor for the ordinary gardener. This is a
mistake. Few vegetables in my garden
repay so amply the cost of production.
One can raise turnips as a fall crop
much easier, it is true, but turnips are not
celery any more than brass is gold. Think
of enjoying this delicious vegetable daily
from October till April When cooked,
and served on toast with drawn butter
sauce, it is quite ambrosial In every
garden evolved beyond the cabbage and
potato phase goodly space of the best soil
should be reserved for celery, since it can
be set out from the LIST tc the Goth of
July in our latitude; it can be grown as the
most valuable of the second crops, reoccu-
pying spaces made vacant by early crops
l find it much easier to buy my plants,
when ready for them, than to raise them.
In every town there are those who grow
them in very large quantities, and, if
properly packed, quickly transported, and
promptly set out in the evening following
their reception, and watered abundantly,
they rarely fail.
If the bed is made in spring, perform
the work as early as possible, making the
bed very rich, mellow, and fine. Coarse
manures, cold, poor, lumpy soil, leave
scarcely ghost of a chance for success.
The plants should be thinned to two
inches from one another, and when five
inches high, shear them back to three
inches. When they have made another
good growth, shear them back again. The
plants are thus made stocky. In our lati-
tude try to set out celery, whether raised
or bought, between the 25th of June and
the 18th of July. This latitude enables us
to avoid spell of hot dry weather.
There are two distinct classes of celery
the tall-growing sorts and the dwarf
varieties. A few years ago the former
class was grown. generally; trenches were
dug, and their bottoms well enriched to
receive the plants. Now the dwarf kinds
are proving their superiority by yielding
larger amount of crisp, tender heart than
is found between long and coarse stalks of
the tall sorts. Dwarf celery requires less
labor also, for it can be set on the surface
and much closer together, the rows three
feet apart, and the plants six inches in the
row. Dig all the ground thoroughly, then,
beginning on one side of the plot, stretcha a
line along it, and fork under foot-wide
strip Of three or four inches of compost,
not raw manure. BY this course the soil
where the row is to be is made very rich
and mellow. Set out the plants at once
while the ground is fresh and moist If
the row is ten feet long, you will want
twenty plants; if fifteen, thirty plants, or
two plants to every foot Of row. Having
set out one row, move the line forward
three feet, and prepare and set out another
row in precisely the same manner. Con-
tinue this process until the plot selected is
occupied. If the plants have been grown
in your own garden, much is gained by
soaking the ground around them in the
evening and removing them to the rows iE
the cool of the morning. This abundant
moisture will cause the soil to cling to the
roots if handled gently, and the plants will
scarcely know that they have been moved.
When setting usually trim off the greater
part of the foliage. When all the leaves
are left, the roots, not established, canGot
keep pace with the evaporation. Always
keep the roots moist and unshrivelled, and
the heart intact and the plants are safe.
; If no rain follows setting Immediately,
water the plants thoroughly-don't be
satisfied with a mere sprinkling of the sur
face-and shade from the hot sun until
the plants start to grow. One of the chief
requisites in putting out celery plant, and
indeed almost any plant, is to press the
soil firmly around, against, and .orcr he
roots: This excludes the air, and the new
rootlets form rapidly. Neither bury the
heart nor leave any part of the root ex-
posed.
Do not be discouraged at the rather slow
growth during the hot days of July and
early August. You have only to keep the
ground clean and mellow by frequent hoe
ings until the nights grow cooler and lon
ger, and rains thoroughly mOisten the soil.
About the middle of August the plants
should be thrifty and spreading, and now
require the first operation which will make
them crisp and white or golden for the
table. Gather up the stalks and foliage of
each plant closely in the left hand, and
with the right draw up the earth around it.
Let no soil tumble in on the heart to soil
or cause decay Press the soil firmly so as
to keep all the leaves in an upright position.
Then with hoe draw up more soil, until
the banking process is begun. During
September and October the plants will grow
rapidly, and in order to blanch them they
must be earthed up from time to time, al
; ways keeping the stalks close and compact,
with no soil falling in on the developing
part. By the end of October the growth
, is practically made, and only the deep green
leaves rest on the high embankments. The
celery now should be fit for use, and time
for winter storing is near. In our region
it is not safe to leave celery unprotected
after the 10th of November, for although
it is very hardy plant, it will not endure
a frost which produces a strong crust Of
frozen soil. l once lost fine crop early
} in November The frost in one night
: penetrated the soil deeply, and when it
thawed out, the celery never revived.
, Never handle celery iohen Il is frozen. My
e method of preserving this vegetable for
J winter use is simply this. During some
! mild, clear day in early November L have
: trench ten inches wide dug just about as
$ deep as the celery is tall. This trench is
dug on warm dry slope, so that by no
, possibility can water gather in it. Then
: the plants are taken up carefully and stored
. in the trench, the roots on the bottom, the
plants upright as they grow, and pressed
closely together so as to occupy all the
space in the excavation. The foliage rises
r a little above the surface, and it is earthed
: up about four inches, so that water viii be
7 shed on either side Still enough Of the
| leaves are left in the light to permit all the
! breathing necessary-for plants breathe as
truly as we do As long as the weather
r keeps mild, this is all that is necessary; but
: there is no certainty now. A hard. black
l. I.~so I.nf